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Thursday, February 23, 2017

Mosul’s westside longing for liberation

“When are you coming to liberate
us,” desperate civilians from Mosul’s occupied Westbank ask the world, in SMSs
sent to the Moslawi radio station Alghad, broadcasting from the Kurdistan
capital of Erbil.

These are voices that are hardly heard outside the occupied
neighbourhoods of Iraq’s second city, of the thousands that are still suffering
under the control of the Islamic terror group ISIS.

In the daily phone-in at the station, civilians from the west
of Mosul reach the program only through SMS, as the telephone signal is too
weak in ISIS territory where none of the telephone repeaters pulled down by the
group have been reinstated yet, like in the liberated East.

Presenter Ahmed al-Moslawi (not his real name) reads them
out, and adds details, sometimes a soothing comment or a call for the
authorities to act.

Abu Amjed sounds desperate in his MSM: “When are they going
to liberate us? We are hungry. If it takes too long I will put poison for
myself and my children to get rid of this life.”

Another caller who does not mention a name says in his SMS
that “everyday bombs are falling, we don’t know what will happen, please
liberate us”.

After the eastside of Mosul was declared liberated last
month ago, the Iraqi army has focused on securing the area and getting rid of
ISIS there, but the operation for the westside has been announced to start
soon.

Desperation is clear from an SMS that asks whether “it is
true that the liberation has been delayed by six months”, showing the result of
the propaganda ISIS uses to make sure the civilians on the Westbank get a bad
impression of the efforts of the Iraqi army.

Ayman says in an SMS he is waiting for the forces to come;
“even the mountain cannot bear what we have to bear”, adding they only have one
meal a day.

Humanitarian organisations have sounded the alarm about the
situation of some 750.000 civilians locked in the western side of Mosul, where because
of the siege many suffer from a lack of food.

As a result, the prices have gone up enormously; during the
program a price of 100 dollar is mentioned for 50 kilo of flour, and 10.000
dinar (9 dollars) for a kilo of rice, both essential products in the
traditional Iraqi kitchen which now sell at a tenfold of its normal price.

“ISIS is taking the food stuffs off the markets, we cannot
find them anymore,” another desperate SMS from the Westbank reads.

Even though in the liberated neighbourhoods in the East life
has gone back to normal, with shops reopening and young people cleaning the
streets, not one of the phone calls from there during the phone-in hour sounds
happy.

Most phoning, complain about the lack of a salary, saying
that the Iraqi government still is not paying its civil servants even though
they have done all the paperwork needed.

While those who fled the city usually receive their
government salaries within weeks after applying, in Mosul most inhabitants still
suffer from a lack of money.

Abu Mohammed from the Eastbank even declares that the
difference between West and East is not that big: “We have no electricity, are
drinking rainwater from the valley, nobody is helping us, not the provincial
authorities, not internationally.”

“We don’t have any money, we sold everything,” another
person using the same name of Abu Mohammed says.

Apart about the lack of money, people from the liberated
parts of Mosul still complain about the security. ISIS still has been able to
infiltrate, and exploded a number of bombs there recently.

An SMS from Rashidiya, one of the areas hit, asks if there
were chemicals in the bombs: “We need advice, do we stay or leave?”

A young woman called Raghad phones to say that her father, a
teacher, had been taken by the military as being involved with ISIS, or Daesh
as the group is called locally, which she says is not true.

“Since 18 days we do not know anything about him. Some
people who hate my father just told the army that he is with Daesh.”

A student says people in her neighbourhood gave information
about someone who was with ISIS: “They came and picked him up, but he was
released two days later. But we know Daesh has fake ID’s.”

Radio Alghad’s editor in chief, using the name Mohammed al-Mosuli,
says the station has received many similar complaints, as many ISIS-members
went underground after shaving their beards.

He recounts an incident that was recently reported from the
Eastside, where ISIS supporters were able to enters mosques to call for
allegiance over the speakers: “People thought Daesh was in control again.”

Because of the attacks, people start wondering about safety
again, he says, doubting the police and the army, and the effectivity of checkpoints.

He asked the provincial government repeatedly but in vain to
answer their questions. “People are getting impatient. They need to be
reassured.”

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Stay for the best result

Iraq gets under your skin. It is a country that is constantly changing. A place with a shortage of energy and water, but plenty of hospitality. Because of the many trauma's and scars, every step forward can be considered a victory. That is why it creeps under your skin - and you will stay, for the best result.

About me

I am a Dutch journalist working in Iraqi Kurdistan since 2008, a correspondent for Dutch and Belgian media (amongst others) and an author of 6 books, of which two have been translated into Kurdish. I set up the Independent Media Centre in Kurdistan which I lead till the end of 2012.